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Banning Books: Protecting Kids or Censorship?

Banning Books: Protecting Kids or Censorship?

Last updated on: August 5, 2024 at 10:23 am by Dennis McIntyre

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Banning Books: Protecting Kids or Censorship? 2024-08-05T10:23:14-04:00 Dennis McIntyre

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Does banning books protect school children? Image courtesy of www.jagranjosh.com

One of the most contentious areas in our country’s culture war revolves around banning books in schools. In a strange twist of irony, we have people that want more censorship on social media, but these same people feel that explicit sexual instruction and violence in school books are acceptable. Why is banning books such an issue? Let’s take a look.

What Are The Points of Disagreement?

Banning books is nothing new and has been a point of contention for many years. This is the most common form of censorship in the United States. The large majority of these battles revolve around school books, and are driven by the parents who feel that certain subjects are inappropriate for the school level the book is written for. There are valid arguments on both sides of the fence. Some of the arguments supporting book bans include:

Parents should have rights around what materials kids can read
Parents then have an opportunity to discuss challenging subjects with their kids
Some content may be inappropriate for certain families, i.e. violence, sexual content
Banning books in school doesn’t mean the kids can’t find the books in other places
By banning certain books we can reduce hate speech

The other side of the argument against banning books:

It creates a “false sense of reality” for children
Banning books infringes on the First Amendment of the Constitution
Books have the capability of changing the world
Banning books only creates more interest in the book for kids
Tastes and preferences change over the years

What’s The Right Answer?

While all of these points have some level of validity about them, the important risk in my view is the ability to force an agenda on school kids. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in 2023 around banned books. Senator John Kennedy used this opportunity to read graphic, sexual content, from two books on the banned book list, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Genderqueer”. The witness in the hearing, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, compared the content Kennedy described to the “rape scene in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’.” Is porn acceptable for school-aged kids? The answer is an obvious no for a myriad of reasons including the fact this situation goes against most families’ values.

Opportunities To Force An Agenda

It is important to point out since both sides of the argument have valid points, is there a single right or wrong answer? In the example above, the school system felt it important to include this type of content, while many parents object to this. Unfortunately, lack of discussion and collaboration subsequently leads to contention that results in fiery school board meetings. It becomes a major issue when the DOJ chimes in calling parents “domestic terrorists.” Meanwhile, our kids are caught in the middle.

Are states and schools forcing an agenda on students? Image courtesy of artsci.tamu.edu

Book Banning and the Catholic Church

Religion was and still is another key point of contention between schools and parents. Much of the content that states want to include in student libraries go against teachings of the Church. As a matter of fact, the Bible has made the list of banned books on numerous occasions and is considered “the most banned and censored book in history.”

In Conclusion …

There is an ongoing battle between school districts and parents over transparency of the curriculum. This breeds distrust between the parents and schools. As states create laws to shield gender identity from parents, the overall level of trust continues to decline. The lack of cooperation between parents and school systems creates opportunities for schools to push an agenda on the students. We are seeing this occur too often to be accidental. A number of states use these opportunities to push their agenda and indoctrinate children. Parents must stand up in these states to protect their kids and teach them to think for themselves.

What do you think about this article? Do you have experiences with this issue? Please feel free to share your views. As always, comments are welcome and encouraged. I will respond back as quickly as I can.

God Bless

General Christian

Education and Religion

About Dennis McIntyre

In my early years I was a member of the Methodist church where I was baptized as a child and eventually became a lector for the church. I always felt I was a very faith-filled person, but that something was missing. My wife is Catholic and my children were baptized as Catholic and this helped me to find what I was looking for to be part of something so much bigger than myself walking together with Jesus. I was welcomed into the Catholic faith and received the sacraments as a full member of the Catholic Church in 2004. I am a Spiritual Director, and very active in ministry serving as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister in addition to providing spiritual direction. I have spent time working with the sick and the terminally ill in local hospitals and Hospice Care centers and found these ministries to be very difficult, but extremely rewarding. You can read more about the author here.

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